Ding Desun

Ding Desun
Water Margin character
Nickname	"Arrow-hit Tiger" (中箭虎)
Rank	79th, Speed Star (地速星) of the 72 Earthly Fiends
Infantry leader of Liangshan
Origin	Imperial general from Dongchang Prefecture
First appearance	Chapter 70
Weapon	Forked spear
Names
Simplified Chinese	丁得孙
Traditional Chinese	丁得孫
Pinyin	Dīng Désūn
Wade-Giles	Ting Te-sun

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Ding.

Ding Desun is a fictional character in the Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. He ranks 79th of the 108 Liangshan heroes and 43rd of the 72 Earthly Fiends. He is nicknamed "Arrow-hit Tiger".

Background

Ding Desun's face and neck are covered with battle scars and he is thus nicknamed "Arrow-hit Tiger". He excels in martial arts and fights well both on foot and on horseback. He serves the imperial court as a military general in Dongchang Prefecture. He is one of the two deputies of Zhang Qing, the other being Gong Wang.

Joining Liangshan

Zhang Qing defeats the outlaws from Liangshan Marsh twice, who are led by Lu Junyi. Song Jiang's army arrives to reinforce Lu Junyi. Zhang Qing defeats more than 15 of the best warriors of Liangshan in combat single-handedly while Gong Wang and Ding Desun always stood by, ready to capture any enemy general who is dismounted by Zhang Qing. Gong Wang engages Liangshan's Lü Fang and Guo Sheng in battle. Yan Qing fires an arrow that hits the leg of Ding Desun's horse and Ding's wounded steed throws him to the ground. Ding Desun is then captured by Lü Fang and Guo Sheng after he is down. Zhang Qing is defeated and captured by Liangshan forces later as well. Gong Wang and Ding Desun follow suit after Zhang Qing decides to surrender and they join the Liangshan cause of "delivering justice on Heaven's behalf".

Campaigns and death

Ding Desun becomes one of the leaders of the Liangshan infantry after the Grand Assembly. He follows the heroes on their campaigns against the Liao invaders and southern rebel forces after they have been granted amnesty by the emperor. During the Fang La campaign, Ding Desun follows Lu Junyi to attack the enemy city of Shezhou (present-day She County, Anhui). They lose the battle and are forced to retreat. Zhu Wu predicts that Fang La's forces will launch a sneak attack that night and suggests that they wait in ambush for the enemy. Zhu Wu's prediction proves right and the Liangshan forces score a major victory over Fang La's forces in the ensuing battle. Ding Desun is bitten by a venomous snake in the bushes and dies from poisoning.

References

• (Chinese) Li, Mengxia. 108 Heroes from the Water Margin, page 159. EPB Publishers Pte Ltd, 1992. ISBN 9971-0-0252-3.